In SEO Trends 2024, we dive deep into the realm of AI, but ultimately, AI is not the star of the show – you are. The human touch is still crucial when adopting AI into your strategy, and this ebook highlights the importance of working alongside it rather than relying on it as a human replacement.

“Helpful” Is A Bigger Word Than You Think

In 2024, Google will change the game with a redefined meaning of “helpful.” Inside, we explore how the definition of “helpful” content and websites is expanding and the impact of updates.

Here are some key insights:

• Google assesses the value and helpfulness of your entire site, so make sure your website has a clear and unique value.
• Engage with generative AI and understand how it works before you try to fight it.
• “Expertise” will be a key differentiating factor – insights and original data attributed to authors with names.

Prepare For Search Generative Experience With “Search Experience Optimization”

The experimental phase of Google’s SGE is causing ripples of anticipation and anxiety in the industry. But the key is being discoverable by generative AI, and knowing when to be its ally and when to be its enemy. Here’s what you really need to know:

• AI in search will upset performance for entire groups of queries, data gathering, and potentially the balance between the platforms.
• Search success may come down to being discoverable by generative AI and finding as many opportunities as possible to surface your brand to users.

Prepare For Disruption: Keep Calm, Educate & Move Quickly

Disruption is on the horizon, but while models for driving business goals may change, the essence of how people search for information remains consistent. The following will be crucial elements in navigating this dynamic landscape moving forward:

• Understanding a user’s true intent must guide you – spam and thin results are dying.
  Don’t forget about technical SEO – keeping a tidy site can also help insulate you from ruthless core updates.
• Use AI strategically to give yourself more time for big-picture thinking.

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Keyword stuffing

The biggest, fattest DO-NOT-DO-THIS on the list: keyword stuffing.

Keyword is exactly what it sounds like: stuffing a bunch of random keywords into places they don’t belong, bogging down your content so it’s barely readable for any actual human.

This mistake sits at the top of the list, because algorithms are much smarter than they used to be — and much smarter than keyword stuffers give them credit for. Search engines know when you’re trying to play them.

Forgetting to change title tags and meta descriptions

Individual title tags and meta descriptions should be present on every single public page of your website. Title tags are a page’s message to the world, and meta descriptions are the explanation of exactly what a reader will find on that page.

If you use the auto-generated title tags and meta descriptions, you risk not accurately representing what is on your website, which will likely result in less views and clicks.

Not consistently updating your website

Miss Google values a fresh, clean, accurate website. Consistently updating your website is key to remaining relevant to search engines, and offers the added bonus of keeping all of your content current and correct.

Not using Google to your advantage

When people talk about SEO, they often mention how we need to do everything in our power to show up in a Google search… but people rarely mention all the ways Miss Google can actually help us do exactly that.

Aside from explicitly outlining everything we need to know about her algorithm, Google has a number of practices inside the Google Marketing Platform place to help us optimize our sites for SEO.

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What will be included in the update?

The new update will consider multiple user and page experience signals and Core
Web Vitals. Mobile and user experience are becoming more and more important
with each update, and this update is no different, but the most notable change is
the introduction of Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals include a set of three elements
that successfully measure user experience, interactivity, and general page speed.
These three elements are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). For the first time in JB Systems history, we will be
including these core web vital metrics in our Monthly SEO Reports.

• ★ Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the time it takes a site to load it’s largest
  image or text block. It ensures that the viewer is seeing all content at a timely
  pace. Google recommends an LCP of less than 2.5 seconds.
• ★ First Input Delay (FID) measures the time from when a user first interacts with a
  page (i.e. when they click a link, tap on a button) to the time when the
  browser is able to begin processing the interaction. Since a delay in the
  processing of the website interaction is bad for user experience, Google
  recommends an LCP of less than 100 ms.
• ★ Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the unexpected movement of
  elements on a site. A layout shift occurs any time a visible element changes
  its position from one rendered frame to the next. When done wrong, these
  unexpected shifts are often annoying to the consumer and will lead to a high
  bounce rate. Google recommends having a CLS score (layout instability) of
  under .1

In anticipation of the update, JB Systems has been monitoring Core Web Vitals on
our Advanced and Standard SEO Clients and have been working on site-wide
improvements that will maintain our client’s competitiveness. To learn more about
what you can do to improve your site’s Core Web Vitals, send us an email at
digitalmarketing@jbsystemsllc.com. We are happy to answer any additional
questions!

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When it comes to web design in Wisconsin, our goal at #TeamJB is to continue to innovate, innovate, innovate. We’re excited about our partnership with Northern Safari Army Navy, as they like to push the envelope as much as we do.

Northern Safari Army Navy’s physical store location in Eau Claire had completed a massive renovation, primarily to support their ever-expanding embroidered product line. Where does a Wisconsin web design company fit in to that, you may ask? #TeamJB was challenged to build a series of custom generators for dog collars, name tapes, leashes and more allowing users to design these fun and unique embroidered products right on the website!

Custom embroidered dog collar from armynavywisconsin.com.

Here’s how it works: at armynavywisconsin.com, you’re able to select a product and choose from several options including size, fabric type and color. You can then add your own text and depending on the product, even more options may be available. Complete your purchase on the website following the user-friendly checkout process developed by #TeamJB or with your PayPal account. Your order is immediately sent to Northern Safari Army Navy’s embroidery team where they’ll get your product designed and shipped within 24-48 hours! All of this taking place right here in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.

Now for more good stuff; just announced, new patterned dog collars and leashes are ready for purchase! Check them out at armynavywisconsin.com. To celebrate their release, for the next two weeks you can get 10% off your total order by entering the promo code TEAMJB at checkout.

Be sure to check their site often, new embroidered products and generators are added frequently. And of course thanks to Issy and Northern Safari Army Navy for the collaboration and partnership from all of us at #TeamJB!

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“We just happened to land on the same sailboat,” says Tom. “In the process of skimming over Lake Pepin, we struck up a conversation about the needs in the IT area, the potential in our youth to fill those needs, and how we could work together make it happen.”

Their answer came in the form of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Non-traditional Occupations Focus grant. Since applying for and receiving the grant, JB Systems and the Black River Falls High School TechWorks program have partnered and worked together to teach students marketable IT skills, such as:

• Basic and intermediate database design skills
• Entity Relationship Diagram skills
• Basic database queries (MySQL)
• Basic HTML skills
• Basic PHP programming skills
• Basic Javascript skills

Additionally, students will be creating a documentary detailing their experience with the program, as well as talking about the importance of having STEM resources available in middle and high school. Another facet of the program will require students to help lead a 2-day Code Camp this June. The camp was organized and facilitated by the STEM grant students.

Students taking in a lesson at JB Systems

So far, the program has been a hit with the kids. “At each new meeting we’ve had, we’ve added participants,” says Tom. “Moreover, the students have been very engaged. They’re interested in the information, challenges and opportunities that Jerry, Tyler and Traci have presented to them.”

Given our history of diving into community projects, #TeamJB was eager educate the youth at Black River Falls High School, and to spread the word about the amazing opportunities that exist in IT and web development. We were also excited to show students that they don’t have to leave for Silicon Valley or large cities to find a tech job, but that these opportunities exist right here in the Chippewa Valley.

Two of JB Systems’ web developers, Traci and Tyler, spoke highly of the partnership. “I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to work with these students,” says Tyler. “It’s great for them to gain real project management experience as well as get an idea of how the programming side would look.”

Traci shares a similar sentiment. “It’s wonderful to see kids getting relevant experience in an industry where text books will always be behind the curve of current technology trends,” she says.

Students working with Tyler at the chalkboard wall at JB Systems

The program especially encourages young women to explore coding as a career. According to GirlsWhoCode.com, 74 percent of girls are intrigued in STEM related fields, yet less than .5% of them pursue STEM related majors in college. This is a statistic JB Systems and Black River Falls High School are hoping to change.

With the JB Systems – Black River Falls partnership off to such a great start, Jerry and Tom are already making future plans. “I see this project as just a start to expanding our IT training for students and as an augmentation of our STEM projects to encourage more students, especially females, to explore and experience the many opportunities in STEM careers,” says Tom. “We plan to apply for the next round of funding to continue the project that we’ve started to simplify our parent reporting system for student information and hopefully expand the project to more avenues of coding and design.”

What started as a sailboat ride with Jerry and Tom, has continued with a successful STEM program, a handful of educators and professionals eager to teach, and a group of students excited to learn. We’re setting sail toward the horizon, toward a bright future of talented young programmers contributing to the Chippewa Valley’s blossoming technology community.

To learn more about this story, contact #TeamJB.

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When asked if they have advice to young women who want to get into programming, both Jessica and Traci were eager to share.

“Women can excel in any subject they work hard at,” says Traci. “The world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math is moving forward at an exciting pace. It is wide open and waiting for people to embrace it. All you have to do is be brave enough to try.”

Jessica shares a similar sentiment on being brave enough to take a chance. “For those girls and women out there who think that coding is something that is outside of their capabilities, I ask you, ‘Have you tried?’” asks Jessica. “You are capable, and I believe in you, just as you need to believe in yourself. Sometimes, it seems, we just need someone to believe in us.”

#TeamJB wishes a Happy International Women’s Day from our team to yours!  

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At the end of January, Jerry Bauer, owner and founder of JB Systems, LLC, was selected as the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) newest board member. Jerry will work with the board to offer free resources to entrepreneurs and businesses in the Chippewa Valley. With these resources, the Eau Claire Area EDC hopes to “innovate, develop, expand, or locate the communities of Altoona, Augusta, Eau Claire, Fairchild, and Fall Creek,” by providing new career opportunities.

For Jerry, being selected as an Eau Claire Area EDC board member is an honor. “There are a lot of community-oriented professionals and business owners that make up this board and it’s pretty humbling to be invited,” he says. “The EDC has been a client of JB Systems for many years and I’m excited to be more involved in helping them carry out their mission.”

That mission is to continue growing the economy of the Chippewa Valley by creating business and job growth. Bauer and the EDC are positioned to do just that by contributing their own experiences as business owners and community leaders to help others form new businesses and careers across the valley.

Luke Hanson, Executive Director of the EDC, thinks Bauer will be an asset to the Eau Claire EDC. “Jerry’s enthusiasm and avocation of the Eau Claire area community made him an obvious choice for the EDC Board. His experience as a local entrepreneur is valued by both our organization as we continue to strengthen our local entrepreneurs and startups, as well as the individuals he has worked with through EDC initiatives like the Idea Challenge and Startup Weekend,” says Hanson. “His consistent support of our local entrepreneurship and business in the Eau Claire area helps our community advance our economy by providing resources and experience to further their businesses.”

Jerry attended his first board meeting at the end of January. He is excited to get to work, and he has already identified goals he’d like to help the Eau Claire Area EDC reach. “I hope to work with the board and a couple of prominent members to tackle major issues, such as healthcare costs in the Chippewa Valley and the skills gap with employee talent,” Jerry says. “Both are issues that seem to affect all industries, and it seems like a good area to focus some of our efforts.”

We believe in maintaining a strong, supportive internal culture, and we believe in sharing that same culture with the greater Eau Claire community. We can’t wait to see what this partnership between JB Systems and the Eau Claire Area EDC brings!

For more information about Jerry’s board appointment, please contact Erin Stevens at 920.931.5976 or erins@jbsystemsllc.com.

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This is when it helps to have a professional step in and help you understand the Analytics and the SEO world. JB Systems has an in-house SEO Strategist who takes the confusion out of SEO and assists our clients in understanding their Analytics. Two SEO vocab words that seem to have people confused as of late are Bounce Rates and Exit Rates.

The bounce rate shows you how many people (or users) visit your website, and then leave after only one pageview. This means that either the user clicked on your website by accident, they weren’t getting the information they needed, or they DID get the information they needed in one page, so they left.

The exit rate refers to anytime a user leaves your website, regardless of how many pages they viewed of your website.

Make sense? Let’s dig into this a little more. Let’s say you have three web pages that are visited throughout the work week:

• Home page
• About Us page
• Contact Us page

On Monday, a person visits your website they start on the Home page. From there they go to the About Us page. Lastly, they visit your Contact page before exiting your website. (Home page> About Us page> Contact page> Exit)

On Tuesday, another person visits your website. They start on the About Us page, and after reading more about your company they realize they clicked on the wrong link so they bounce off your site. (About Us page > Exit)

On Wednesday, a different person comes to your website and they start on your Home page. Next, they visit your Contact page. Lastly, they view the About Us page and then leave your site. (Home page> Contact Page > About Us Page> Exit)

Thursday rolls around and a new visitor comes to your website. They enter your site on the Contact page. They fill it out, and since that’s all they needed, they leave your website. (Contact page > Exit)

Finally it’s Friday, and one more person visits your site. They arrive on the About Us page and read a little bit about your company before clicking over to your Contact page. Then they check out your Home page. From there, they exit your site. (About Us page > Contact page > Home page> Exit)

Let’s summarize the week:

• Monday: Home page> About Us page> Contact page> Exit
• Tuesday: About Us page > Exit
• Wednesday: Home page> Contact Page > About Us Page> Exit
• Thursday: Contact page > Exit
• Friday: About Us page > Contact page > Home page> Exit

Using the summary above as a reference, let’s look at the Bounce Rate for each page. The Bounce Rates for this example are as follows:

• Home page: 0% (one session began with the Home page but it led to other pageviews on the site, so it has no Bounce Rate)
• About Us page: 33% (3 sessions started with the About Us page, but only one of those sessions led to a bounce)
• Contact page: 100% (one session started with the Contact page, and it lead to a bounce)

Now let’s look at the exit rate. Remember, the Exit Rate refers to the page of the website that the user left on. The Exit Rates for this example are:

• Home page: Out of the 3 sessions that included the Home page, only in 1 session did the user exit on the Home page
• About page: Out of the 4 sessions that included the About page, in 2 session the user exited on the About page
• Contact page:  Out of the 4 sessions that included the Contact page, in 2 session the user exited on the Contact page

Make sense? If you’re still confused about bounce rates or exit rates, or have any SEO related questions, please Contact JB Systems. We’ll work together to make sure you have a solid grasp on SEO!

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Instructions for fixing Outlook 2010:

1) Click the orange “File” button at the top.

2) Click on “Account Settings”

Photo credit: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ithelpcentral/solutions/email/outlook2010/images/outlook2010_cached_2.png

3) Once in “Account Settings,” find your email account and click “Change”

4) Click on “More Settings” in the bottom right.

Photo credit: http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/AccountSettings.jpg

5) Go to the tab that says “Outgoing Server”

6) Make sure the first box is checked (My outgoing server requires authentication)

7) Press OK.

Photo credit: http://www.efinitytech.com/Userfiles/Support/7.png

We hope this helps! If you follow these instructions and your email still isn’t working, please give JB Systems a call!

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